Outdoor rink

[C_Dave45]

Well I'm gonna try and make a small outdoor rink this year. Won't be big, but enough to tool around on and for the boy to learn to skate.

The canvas:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o312/CalgaryDave/20141109_160935.jpg

[My_name_is_Rob]

Should be fun. Are you using anything for a base at all?

[C_Dave45]

No, just going to go over the ground. Layer the ice and snow.

[Sugarphreak]

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[JfuckinC]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
Sweet idea!

How do you go about making a rink?


spray water all over the ground and let it freeze? lol :dunno:

Then use warm water from your hot water tank once the base is made haha



You need this :thumbsup:

http://www.costco.ca/Ezgoal™-Regulation-Pro-Steel-Folding-Hockey-Goal-System-With-Shooter-Tutor.product.100088250.html

[Benny]

Originally posted by JfuckinC

spray water all over the ground and let it freeze? lol :dunno:


Pretty much haha

http://i.imgur.com/A9VmAEA.jpg

[Sugarphreak]

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[r3ccOs]

lol... I think there is a little more science involved, or maybe that's patience

you can't just flood, you have to keep spraying in increments

keep spraying

keep spraying

[TomcoPDR]

I think you need to lay a non-porous base (those construction poly sheets comes to mind, maybe in the case of Dave, just see if any contractors "forgot" their 50' roll of Tyvek at the sites)

25+ years ago I remember dad tried using newspaper as a base for our yard rink, it was an epic fail/abandoned project/scorned childhood memories, spring rolled around the lawn turned into paper mache. Mom was not happy at all, then dad "clean it up" by running the mower over it trying to "mulch" his overflow septic newspaper lawn; with a non-mulching Crappy tire entry level mower... mom wasn't happy again. I've learned that my mother is a very forgiving woman.

Anyway, luckily we lived on a lake community.

[codetrap]

Originally posted by C_Dave45
No, just going to go over the ground. Layer the ice and snow. That will most likely fail. My neighbor has done this for 4+ years now, and he's got a 2x8 base that goes all the way around, and a large membrane that he puts down that keeps the water from just running off the side into my yard and draining.

The other real issue with not using a membrane is that it will kill all the grass/plants. He also does very thin layers of water. It has to be about 3 inches thick before it'll hold properly.

The other thing that a lot of people don't think about is what happens when the ice melts. He gets a fair sized lake that he has to drain away every year. If you don't want real water issues you need a plan to get rid of it without turning your yard into muskeg.

[C_Dave45]

The Stanley park community rink is made just over the grass, as many others are. The grass is quite green in the summer, and the ice is fine in the winter. Three inches of ice is no more than the foot or so of snow that's piled there and then a good chinook melts it into a lake. No problems there. :dunno:

[roll_over]

Another option

Jiffy Rink (http://m.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/jiffy-ice-rink-0833898p.html)

[codetrap]

Dave, I'm just relaying personal experience. Take it for whatever it's worth.

[78si]

This is my buddy's new addition to his business:
http://rymarrinks.ca/index.php/home/

[speedog]

Maintained our CA outdoor rink including a grass rink for a number of years - we didn't do anything special other than wait for the ground to get well frozen and get a lot of the snow off. In the spring, the grass came back green as ever and water run off was never an issue.

Also did the backyard rink one year at our place - discovered how "un-flat" my "what appeared to be flat" back yard was as well as have some dead areas in the spring. Never had an issue with having to drain the water away when the ice started melting in the spring - usually a good chinook took care most of the water. Not sure why the CA's grass came through so much better than mine - probably more due to the type of grass planted. Never the less, only did the backyard rink thing one year and then the kids were trotted off to the outdoor CA rinks 1.5 blocks away - yeah, the kids liked being able to walk to their backyard rink from the house but it was just so much easier to use the CA's rinks instead.

[speedog]

Originally posted by r3ccOs
lol... I think there is a little more science involved, or maybe that's patience

you can't just flood, you have to keep spraying in increments

keep spraying

keep spraying
Patience and it really doesn't make a difference if one sprays or not. First few times after ground is frozen well, one can spray to get a good coating own but after that, just flood (this is the science part) - best temperatures to flood at are minus 8-15C. Warmer than that and it'll take for ever to set up, colder than that and the top layer freezes too quickly creating all kinds of issues. Flooding when it's windy is also another no-no - really can make a mess of your ice. Finally, clean off your ice before flooding - any loose ice or snow that you flood over will just make for shitty ice once everything sets up.

[88CRX]

Inb4 'my entire grass yard is dead' post come spring time :rofl:

[C_Dave45]

Originally posted by speedog
....

awesome advice..thanks Speedog


Originally posted by 88CRX
Inb4 'my entire grass yard is dead' post come spring time :rofl:

I don't know how you come to that conclusion. Every yard in this climate gets covered by ice and snow. Chinooks turn piles of snow into lakes. That freezes..some areas will get much more ice than the 3" that I'll be laying down. Whether it's made into a skating surface or left untouched, the same amount of ice still completely saturates and covers the grass and it survives and flourishes come springtime. :dunno:
Otherwise there would be no lawns anywhere there was a winter. Snow and ice are a protectant to vegetation.

[speedog]

NP C_Dave45 - all I know is that I did experience some grass kill the one year I built a small rink in my back yard and never experienced the same thing in the numerous years I looked after the CA's rinks and I can't for the life of me explain it. The only difference I can see is the type of grass and it's density - my lawn is quite a bit more dense than the field we flooded at the CA and it's definitely a different type of grass.

[88CRX]

We did it one year.... entire yard ended up dead.

No more backyard rinks. Might have something to do with the weight and mass of a couple inches of ice vs snow :dunno:

[JfuckinC]

we had one every year when i was a kid... never had any problems with the backyard grass dying :dunno:

[speedog]

Originally posted by 88CRX
We did it one year.... entire yard ended up dead.

No more backyard rinks. Might have something to do with the weight and mass of a couple inches of ice vs snow :dunno:

From my experience, I think it has to do more with how long the ice sits on one's lawn into early spring - if I remember correctly, my lawn's dead patches were the areas that had the ice on them the longest. Still doesn't explain the CA's grass rink coming out as green as ever every spring but I think a different type of grass there was the difference.

My advice - if you care about the piece of lawn you intend to turn into a backyard rink even a little bit, then don't flood it - take the kids to the local outdoor rink, there's so many around and the unfenced ones usually mean no hockey pucks/players (at least in our community). And besides that, you won't be out there maintaining it - dealing with your garden hose when it's -15C is a PITA and that little hose takes forever to get a backyard rink going. Mind you, it was kind of neat to skate in the backyard under the Christmas lights we strung from our clothesline.

BTW C-Dave45 - how much of a slope do you have on that piece of lawn in your picture? If you want a level ice surface, a small slop will mean a lot of water that'll have to be built up - I though our backyard was quite level but the one year I did flood it, it became apparent that one end was a good 5-6 inches lower than the other end and that's a lot of water to lay down to get a nice level ice surface and for young ones learning to skate, an ice surface that slopes is not going to be conducive to learning to skate.

[C_Dave45]

Originally posted by 88CRX
We did it one year.... entire yard ended up dead.

No more backyard rinks. Might have something to do with the weight and mass of a couple inches of ice vs snow :dunno:
Then something else killed it. Whether there's 3" of ice or 15 feet of snow...that alone won't kill grass.
Grass is a weed...short of dumping hydrochloric acid into the dirt, it can be brought back to life after almost anything.
Anyways. ..it's just a fun project I'm not looking for first class hockey playing. And yes going the the CA rink is much easier...but learning to skate on your own back yard...priceless

[Moonracer]

So Dave, did you get it up and running yet?

[jwslam]

Originally posted by speedog
dealing with your garden hose when it's -15C is a PITA and that little hose takes forever to get a backyard rink going.
Hmm yea... How do you make sure no water stays in the hose and freezes/explodes when you're watering?

[speedog]

Originally posted by jwslam
Hmm yea... How do you make sure no water stays in the hose and freezes/explodes when you're watering?
As long as the water is running, your hose won't freeze up. But if it's really cold, once you finish flooding you'll have a very short window to drain the hose and get it coiled up to store in a warm place.

[codetrap]

Originally posted by speedog

As long as the water is running, your hose won't freeze up. But if it's really cold, once you finish flooding you'll have a very short window to drain the hose and get it coiled up to store in a warm place. I might be me, but I really read this as sexual innuendo...

[speedog]

Originally posted by codetrap
I might be me, but I really read this as sexual innuendo...
Trust me, when it's -25C and you've been flooding/cleaning the community rink for 2+ hours, there is absolutely nothing sexual about it.